It is a common practice to use coils of barbed wire, referred to as concertina wire and having a height of several feet or more, to protect against or hinder the travel of land vehicles and troops on a battlefield. For example, such wire coils are deployed to prevent wheeled vehicles such as tanks, or personnel, or both, from passing through a strategically important area. A tank and the accompanying ground units may also have their forward progress slowed or prevented by such ground wire because the accompanying ground units can not easily pass through the wire.
A number of patents disclose the use of devices mounted on the front of a vehicle for cutting a wire or fence. Considering some of these, U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,656 (Kramb et al.) discloses a cable cutting device which comprises a elongated body member having a forward, generally horizontal portion and a rearward upwardly sweeping portion having a cutter hook for severing a cable caught in the hook. In operation, as the vehicle moves along a path and the cable is encountered, the cable will be forced into the hook, where the cable will be severed by the cutting action of the hook during the forward motion of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,292 (Anderson) discloses a safety device for snowmobiles which comprises a plurality of hook-like members located along a bar which conforms to the nose shape of a snowmobile. This device severs a wire in a hook during the forward motion of the snowmobile.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,316 (Stotesbery) discloses a safety device for snowmobiles comprising an upright bar which extends over the windshield of a snowmobile. The bar terminates in a hook which is utilized in cutting strands of fence wire and small branches. This device functions similarly to those described above in that forward motion of the snowmobile provides the force necessary to the hook to cut through the obstruction captured in the hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,579 (Albertson) discloses a safety device for all terrain vehicles comprising a hook-shaped member which mounts upon a windshield of a vehicle such as a snowmobile. The bottom of the hook-shaped member is secured to the vehicle by a cable which attaches, at one end, to the vehicle and at the other end to the hook-shaped member. The operation of the device is similar to that of the devices described above.